I. Field of the Invention
This invention is an improvement over our prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,955, dated Apr. 19, 1977, for an Apparatus For Attaching a Workpiece to A Continuous Length of Line, and reference may be had thereto for a better understanding of the present invention.
In this prior patent, an apparatus is provided for coupling a workpiece to a specified position along a continuous length of material, and then cutting the length of material therefrom to a predetermined length. The present improvement provides for an apparatus and method for grasping the cut length of material prior to the final cutting of the material then cutting the material and positioning the ends of the cut material in an ultrasonic welder, heat sealer, or similar joining apparatus, to fuse or coalesce the ends together with a predetermined overlap and then discharging the ribbon with connected ends and workpiece attached from the apparatus. Thus, an automatic apparatus attaches a workpiece and cuts the ribbon from a continuous length to a predetermined length and then the ends of the ribbon are joined to form an endless loop which is used as an operative element in a bomb fuze.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore it has been customary to couple a line or ribbon through a workpiece threading the ribbon through multiple sequential apertures located in the workpiece. It was then necessary to move the workpiece along the ribbon to the required position, and to tension the ribbon over the workpiece prior to cutting the ribbon to the predetermined length. Due to the complexity of the threading operation, it was often necessary to accomplish the entire procedure by hand labor, an operation which was both expensive and slow. In the alternative, complex threading machines were required to thread an end of the ribbon through the appropriate aperture in the workpiece. These threading machines were not only slow, but were also subject to breakdown when the subject threading element missed the aperture and was impaled upon the workpiece. Furthermore, even after the ribbon was threaded through the aperture in the workpiece, it was necessary to pull the ribbons through the workpiece with great accuracy so that the workpiece would be located at a specified position along the predetermined length of ribbon.
In response to these problems, an apparatus was developed utilizing an arcuate-shaped workpiece having special one-way apertures located adjacent each end thereof. One-way apertures were specially designed to receive a folded section of the ribbon when tension was placed upon the ribbon. It was folded to thereby retain the ribbon within the one-way aperture in the workpiece. By stuffing the folded ribbon through the one-way aperture, the necessity to pull the ribbon through the workpiece or to move the workpiece to the specific location along the ribbon was eliminated. This locating procedure is easily accomplished by prearranging the specificed position of the ribbon adjacent to the one end apertures of the workpiece prior to the folding and stuffing process as taught in prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,955, dated Apr. 19, 1977. The ribbon having a workpiece attached at a predetermined position and cut to a predetermined length was then discharged into a receptacle where an operator fused the ends of the ribbon together in an ultrasonic welder. The present improvement to the prior apparatus and method provides for an apparatus for grasping the cut length of ribbon prior to the final cutting to a predetermined length then cutting the continuous length of ribbon to its predetermined length, then twisting the cut length of ribbon to place the ends on the anvil of an ultrasonic welder, fusing the ends together with a predetermined overlap to form an endless loop of predetermined length with a workpiece positioned at a predetermined position on the loop, and then discharging the ribbon for a later connection to a bomb fuze apparatus.